Blue Jays to sign LHP Ryan Feierabend

The Blue Jays have made yet another depth signing, inking southpaw Ryan Feierabend, according to a recent report.

According to Baseball Toronto’s Keegan Matheson, the Blue Jays have signed left-handed knuckleball pitcher Ryan Feierabend to a contract, pending a physical.

Matheson adds that Feierabend, who spent the last four years pitching in the Korean Baseball Organization, will be receiving a minor-league deal with a major league option. Matheson notes that, at this time, there is no word on incentives, salary, or length/nature of the deal.

Feierabend, 33, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft and made his major league debut with the team in 2006, appearing in four games and pitching to an ERA of 3.71 in 17.0 innings.

After spending the next two seasons with Seattle, the native of Cleveland, Ohio spent some time with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies organizations before eventually settling with the Texas Rangers in January 2013.

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Shortly after a short stint in Texas, he moved to Korea and played for the Nexen Heroes and KT Wiz of the KBO, boasting a cumulative ERA of 4.14 in 660.1 innings.

His best season came in 2017 when he tossed 160.0 innings to an ERA of 3.01 and struck out 142 and walked just 31.

A knuckleball pitcher with experience in the upper minor leagues, Feierabend looks to be a decent addition as a minor-league free agent. Sung Min Kim of Fangraphs profiled Feierabend’s knuckleball in a column last year.

For a team like the Blue Jays who seem eager to add pitching of any sort, there is, for all intents and purposes, no such thing as a bad minor-league deal, especially when the pitcher in question is, like Feierabend, a different look for opposing hitters due to his use of the knuckleball.